Gift of the Nymphs
by StormyRebel
Summary: A once in an (immortal) lifetime causes a birth that should never had happened. Being hidden away from view for almost fiteen years, the Daughter of the Huntress has been found, both by monsters and demigods alike. The only problem (among many)? She has no idea of her heritage. A OC story that starts just before the start of Labyrinth. Not a Percy/OC ROMANTIC story.
1. Enter the world of Andromeda

_**Gift of the Nymphs**_

**Author's Note:** Yeah, so this is another story. You know, sometimes I really hate being an author (even if it's 'only' for a fanfiction website), because once you get just the faintest dream of an idea, it won't leave you alone. It keeps nagging, nagging, nagging you until you do something about it. I actually managed to postpone writing the story for two weeks (and that was only because I wrote all my ideas for the story down).

Anyways, I hope you can forgive me, and still enjoy the story. As is pretty evident, it's a Percy Jackson and the Olympians fanfiction, centering on an OC. It starts just before the start of The Battle of the Labyrinth book, and so far I have no plans of bringing any elements of The Heroes of Olympus into the story (mostly because I haven't read them yet). I want to be clear; this is NOT a Percy/OC story, as I like Percabeth very much, thank you. I don't know if there will be any romance with the OC in the book yet, so… yeah. The OC will be a daughter of Artemis. And yeah, before you go all crazy on me; no, Artemis did _not_ break her vow. She got a daughter thanks to something like what happens with Athena's children. But… it's different. I will not reveal how yet, as that's part of the story.

A last thing; I really can't promise when I will update the story (neither can I keep up my updates on my other stories as much as I want to). I've recently started in school again, and it's rather time- and energy-consuming. That said, I really do hope that I will be able to keep up my updates at a bearable level.

Oh, and the reason for the title will be revealed at the bottom of the chapter.

So… I hope you'll enjoy this story, and please do contact me by any means if you have questions, praise, or criticism (constructive, thank you).

**Chapter 1:** Enter the World of Andromeda

* * *

As soon as I heard the bell ring, I swiped my scattered books into my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I stormed out of the classroom, angry tears welling up in my eyes. I could hear the happy, popular bubble-gum girls laugh at my expense, in their annoying high-pitching nasal voices. But I wouldn't let them get the satisfaction of seeing me cry. They might get a kick out of make my life miserable, but I wouldn't let them have the pleasure of seeing the result of their actions. They could rot in the seven hells for all I cared.

It was like this every day, every week, for as long as I could remember. _They_ would always pick on me, trying to get a reaction out of me. I had become pretty adapt at ignoring until the end of the day, at which point, as you can see, I would storm out of the classroom with tears in my eyes. I wasn't crying over the things they said – as much I didn't want to admit it, everything they said was the truth – but I cried because it got to me. _God damn it!_

And it's not like I'm not an easy target, either.

Shortly after having given birth to me, my mother left me with my drunken father – that's what I'm told at least. I was 'rescued' by the social workers when I was four. I found out he died a few years back… not that I care much. I spent around a year in that god damned System before I was adopted by what appeared to be a nice lady in New York, named Georgia Weber. That had been a façade to fool the social workers. Now, Georgia isn't, and has never been, abusive or anything, she just doesn't… care. Like, at all. It was like this big wall of indifference.

In the start, just after I had been adopted, I had tried my best to get her attention. First it was by pleasing her, you know, do well in school, help around the house (even though I was barely six years old), being your average dream-child. After about six months of that not working, I had tried to get her attention by getting scolded. I turned from being your dream-child, to being a small hell-raiser. And I _did_ get scolded, but it was always halfheartedly. I stopped that when I had turned seven and overheard my teachers talking; they said that they hoped that Georgia wouldn't send me back to the System because I didn't behave. I didn't want to get back into the System – as much as I didn't like being not being cared for, living with Georgia was much better than being in the System.

It hadn't changed as I had grown up, only I had to take on more responsibility. I wasn't Georgia's servant or anything; I just had to take care of myself. It was kind of like living with a roommate who I didn't see quite that much. I mean, sometimes there would go days, even weeks, between me seeing her. And she didn't make me work for the money that I used to take care of myself, either; she paid for all the bills and expenses. I just had to make sure I had what I needed with the money she left on the kitchen counter each week (there would be more if she was out of town for a few weeks).

All in all, I didn't have a _bad_ life at home. Neither was it a happy home. It was a home of indifference. I've never told anyone about it, in fear that they would try and do something about it. I don't want it to change – to have a change means that it can get worse. And as I said, I wasn't hurt, and I don't have it bad. So I left it as it is. But that doesn't mean that the other students at school, and some of the teachers, don't know that I didn't have a so-called 'normal' home life.

It was not that much better in school. That tends to be the case when you have not only dyslexia, but also a mild form of ADHD. Whoever thought that it would just be a _splendid_ idea (note the sarcasm) to put those two condition into a single body, should seriously get slapped hard, with a chair, out a window, from the third floor. I seriously _hated_ to reading and doing math – I got the worst headaches from looking at all the numbers and letters, like they were jumping out of the pages and hitting me with mallets (that might actually be an improvement). I had tried for a while to keep up with the class, but gave that up eventually. I didn't have friends or parents back then who told me just to keep going.

It's pretty safe to say that I didn't get the best grades.

Well, P.E. is an exception. I'm one of the best students at that particular subject. My reflexes are top notch, and I got the best at school according to the coach. Furthermore, I always have an overview of what is going on, no matter what game or discipline we are playing or doing – it's very rare thing that I don't know where a person was at any moment. That's not to say I'm good at every sport we played: for example I absolutely _suck_ at soccer – like, 'trip over the damned ball, earth up your nose' suck. But I loved P.E. as the only subject in school. Not because of the sports and games being played, nor was it because it's only subject I can manage to get over a C- in (I usually get A's and B's if you were wondering).

No, what I loved about P.E. is that I could run.

I _love_ to run, to feel the rush of my blood pump through my veins, to hear the rhythmic sound of my heartbeat, to feel the '_dunk, dunk, dunk'_ of my feet hitting the earth… There is something so primal, so_ me_ about it. It is very hard to explain without sounding like a crazy person – it is like on the running track (or rather, anywhere at all, as long as I can simply run) I can just be myself. That there, running, is where I belong. And that's where I'm heading right now.

Or I would be, if it wasn't for the rapid '_click, thump, click, thump_' I heard rattling down the hallway. With a tense jaw, and tears still visible in my eyes, I stopped and waited for the person I knew was coming after me. And sure enough, less than a minute after, the only person I can call anything near a friend was turning the corner. In fact, he was moving at such high speed, that he knocked us both over when he didn't stop in time.

"Ouch, Grover! Knock me over, will ya!?" I grumbled at him as I got up. Yeah, I'm a very angry person. Why? For previously stated reasons; I don't exactly have a lot _not_ to be angry about.

"Sorry Nymmie," he apologized as he struggled to get up.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" I snapped at him, narrowing my eyes dangerously. Grover had taken to calling me Nymmie, even though I despised that nickname… and the name it was derived from. Seriously; who calls their own daughter _Nymphadora!?_ I scoffed mentally; I guess when you abandon your daughter shortly after she is born, you don't care all that much about her name. At least my parents had the decency to give me a somewhat bearable middle name; Andromeda.

That, by the way, had also been a great source of teasing for me, both past and present. That's to be expected when you grow up with a name like Nymphadora Andromeda Forrest.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized again, still struggling. I sighed, and started to help him. You see, Grover can't walk straight because of an accident when he was involved in when he was younger. Something about bookcase crushing his legs (I had shuddered the first time he told me), and he have had to use crutches ever since then. He threw me a thankful smile and accepted my help. I let him support himself on me, as I picked up his crutches and gave them to him.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah," I told to him dismissively while rolling my eyes. I swear I could see him grin out of the corner of my eye. At least the tackle he had given me had dried my eyes up. "I know you didn't mean to. But that doesn't mean that it didn't hurt," I told him, rubbing my now slightly sore shoulder. He smiled sheepishly at me. I roll my eyes again, and starts walking again. He walks with me as we make our way to the tracks, and I can see that he throws nervous glances around him. That's not new; Grover has had a nervous streak about him for as long as I've known him, like he expects monsters to jump out from the shadows.

Not that I have known Grover that long. He transferred to the High School four months ago. He had been giving me glanced (a _lot_ of them, seriously I thought he was a creep) for about three weeks before I confronted him, at which point he asked if we could become friends. Since he was different, too, none of the others had spared him much more than a glance – and, yeah, I don't go to the friendliest of High Schools.

I never expected to be friends with a… I guess academic would be the right work - Someone who actually did well in school, and got good grades in _every_ subject. It's not because I have anything against people who do well in school. To be perfectly frank, I would wish I _was_ one of them who did well in school, but that was not how it should be. I was much better in the physical aspect, and since many of the other athletes in my school a jerks, yeah…

But I had befriended Grover – or rather he me (he can be incredible stubborn… it's almost infuriating). And Grover was _really_ good in school. I mean, he got A's in every subject but P.E., only getting an odd B here and there. He would breeze through the assignments, almost like he had been through High School several times over. First I was jealous of him… but I had quickly scolded myself the day after I had admitted that, when I saw Grover hump down the hallway with a smile on his face. And Grover did actually help me as much as he could. _That_ was not easy, considering the period of time I had actually not made an effort.

I dismiss those thoughts as Grover and I approach the running tracks. I could feel myself ignite on the inside, as if another part of me was awaking at just the prospect of running. I don't know if it was coincidence, that at the moment my other self was waking up, a teacher from the school (who wasn't teaching me) walked past us. I almost gagged at the smell. Not wanting to be rude I kept a straight face and waited until the teacher – Mrs. Stanley, I believe her name was – was out of hearing ranged.

Then I gagged. I'm not exaggerating; I physically gagged – _that's_ how strong the stench coming off her was.

"Andy, what's wrong?" it came from Grover. I gagged one more time before I got the reflex under control. Then I started laughing.

"Oh my god, somebody needs a shower!" I glanced in the direction of where Mrs. Stanley had gone, and sniffed the air again. I grimaced.

"Y-you mean you could smell that?" Grover asked with wide eyes. I half scoffed, half laughed at the question.

"How could I have _not_ smelled her? Seriously, I'm surprised we haven't heard ambulances coming to get the children she's taught today." I laughed (maybe a bit mockingly) at my own joke, kind of expecting to hear Grover's almost goat-like laugh accompany my own. I didn't hear it. With a slight frown I looked at Grover, who had stopped. He was starring wide eyed at me, his mouth slightly agape. "Erm, Grove? Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah, just fine," he answered. He didn't look fine. He looked scared and worried. And now his eyes were darting even more back and forth, whereas before it had only been glanced.

"Are you sure?" I asked, voicing my suspicions.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to run to the bathroom fast." I gave him a weird look; it was clear that _something _was going on, but for the love of all that was good, I couldn't figure out what that 'something' was. "I'm fine, really," he told me when I kept starring at him. Narrowing my eyes slightly – letting him now that I knew he wasn't sincere – I nodded at him.

"All right. I'll go to the tracks and get started. I need to get changed first anyway." Grover began humping in the direction of the toilets, muttering to himself. He kept sniffing the air, and looked almost frightfully around him. Okay, now he was beginning to move from 'Grover-weird' to 'Call-a-mental-hospital-weird'.

Casting one more very confused glance at my only friend, I proceeded to walk toward the tracks and the locker rooms. Without Grover slowing me down – no offense intended towards him – I made it there that much faster. No-one was here, which really wasn't all that unusual on a Friday afternoon after school. Most kids, even the football jocks and cheerleaders, would leave school grounds as fast as possible, getting ready for the weekend of parties that was to come. The only exception to that was if there was a game planned, in which case a few people might've been here.

I let out a sigh, the sound echoing in the empty locker room, and put down my bag on one of the benches. I took out my gym clothes and started changing. Halfway through I glanced up and caught my reflection in the wall mirror (hey, it _is_ the girl's locker room). At least the kids here couldn't tease me about my looks… much.

I had an average body-structure of a fifteen-year old, maybe just being a tad higher… Okay! I'm six feet, one inch. I'm a lot higher than any of the other girls… and higher than a lot of the boys, too. My height was a sensitive subject for me; I might not care that much about my looks, but I was still a girl… _Anywho_, I wasn't fat – far from it – but I had some muscle-mass because of how much I ran. My hair is auburn colored (tilting towards red, especially in sunlight), and it reached me just below my shoulder-blades. Now, you may think that apart from my hair, _that_ would be how the kids to tease me about my body, but no…

I had the freakiest eyes, ever. Seriously, I swear they are_ silver_. No, not as in silver-_ish_, but as in seriously silver around the black that was my pupil. I could be counted as blue if you only looked briefly in my eyes (which really was the rule rather than the exception), but if you spend more than thirty seconds, you would quickly realize that my eye-color is _not _blue. I have never heard of such a thing… And neither has the internet, believe me. I have checked – extensively.

But as I said, I don't care… a lot. I don't care a lot about it.

Tying my shoelace, I brought my arms above my head and stretched. Hearing a satisfying crack from my back, I jogged out to the tracks and quickly stretched out to not hurt myself. As I finished I glanced over at where Grover normally sat while I ran (how he had the patience to look at me run for so long, I don't know), but he wasn't there. I frowned; he should've been back now… no matter how _much_ he had to go to the bathroom, if you catch my drift. Something definitely was going on with him. Again, I shook my heads free of those thoughts; this was _my_ time, free of worry and bliss, my time to just _be._ And I started running. At the speed I was setting off with, you would think I would burn myself out in minutes, if not seconds. But I was good at running, having done it for almost four years now. I wouldn't burn myself out at these speeds… actually, I can't remember ever burning myself out.

I don't know for how long I had been running the tracks – as I've mentioned, I kind of enter my own world – when Grover stepped out in the lane I was occupying. Of course I saw him as soon as he was right in my path, and realized I had probably – _unintentionally_ – ignored him. He smiled at me (thought he still looked… off) when my most-likely dazed eyes focused on his. He them humped over to the bench and waited for me. I ran to him, and as soon as I was a few feet from him, he handed me a bottle of water.

"I know you're a great runner, but you can't forget to drink. Especially when it's as warm as it is today," he told me, nodding towards the sun. It _was_ warm today, and _could_ feel it, I just… didn't feel, like, 'exhausted' by it as people normally described they would be when it was as warm. But Grover was right; I had to remember to drink. One time I had forgotten to do it – own world, remember? – and had almost passed out of dehydration when I was going home.

"Thanks," I smiled at him and sat down beside him. I unscrewed the lit and poured the water down my throat, reveling in the feeling of getting some liquid inside me. "So what took you so long?"

"I, erm, eh," he said flustered. "I think I ate something bad, and, you know…" Yeah, I knew what he was talking about. I also knew he was lying. Grover may be a genius in class, but he couldn't lie to save his – or anyone else's – life. But I played along. After all, he knew that I knew that he was lying. He would tell me at some point.

"Ugh, sorry," I said, wincing. See, unlike him, I was a great actress. We sat there for two minutes while I took a break (not that I needed one), and him looking flustered and conflicted. Finally I sighed irritably (did I mention that I wasn't exactly a happy person?). "Spit it out, Grover. I don't think I can take much more of your ass-jumping on the bench. It's ruining my mood."

"Well," Grover started, completely unfazed by my small outburst. "You know how I've mentioned Percy and Annabeth?"

I raised an eyebrow, giving him an inquiring look. "Yeah, from that summer-camp you're attending, and the school you went too previously, right?"

"Yeah, well, they're kinda coming to visit tomorrow, and I was thinking, if you don't have anything better to do, that you might, possibly, consider meeting them?" I froze; now I knew why he was hesitant at asking me. I wasn't complaisant toward people I didn't know – Grover knew that first hand. And now he was asking me spending the day with two complete strangers, strangers he had a friendship with which was much older and more developed than my own friendship with Grover. That meant that I could be spending a whole Saturday being the fourth wheel, and be bored out of my mind.

But, then again, I didn't exactly have anything better to do.

And, if I knew Grover as well as I thought I knew him, he wouldn't let me be the fourth wheel. I sighed and looked over at my only friend, who looked hesitantly optimistic at me. Damn, he knew me too well; since I hadn't screamed no, followed by all the profanities contained in the English language, he knew that I would probably say yes.

"Oh fine, I'll meet Peter and Annabell," I finally answered him, gulping down the last of the water in the half-liter flask. I jumped from the bench starting to run again.

"It's Percy and- Oh, whatever," I could hear him half yell after me, and I could almost see the stupid smile of his, while he shook his head amused at my antics.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hope you liked it. Remember to review! :)

The reason the story is named Gift of the Nymphs, is because the OC's first name is Nymphadora. And I chose that because… I thought it fit with her being the daughter of Artemis, and being in touch with nature and all.

Until Next Time! :)


	2. Laistrygonians and Crazy Snake Ladies

_**Gift of the Nymphs**_

**Author's Note:** I chose to split chapter one up into two chapters, as one of my reviewers suggested. I actually fits rather well, as the chapter should be around 3,5k words long… not half bad if I do say so myself. If you have already read chapter one before the fifth of September 2013, then just skip along to the next one. If you're read chapter one after said date, then enjoy!

**Chapter 2:** The Laistrygonians and The Crazy Snake Lady

* * *

Even if I agreed to meet Grover's friends form camp, there was no way I would skip my daily run on the track. Grover knew that, and had therefore just suggested that we meet on the tracks around noon – that was about an hour after I would normally arrive. Since it was a Saturday, the High School's buildings were locked off, including the locker rooms, so I had just worn gym clothes from home. It was a warm day in May, anyway, so I didn't exactly look out of place. I was just glad that our school didn't lock the grounds, as I would have to travel quite a distance more to get to the nearest track.

As it always happened when I ran, I was in my own world. I didn't _forget_ that I was meeting Grover, Percy and Annabeth – in fact it was one of the last things I reminded myself of before running, much to my chagrin – but neither did I exactly _remember_. So I was surprised when not only Grover, but two people around my own age, who I had never met before, stepped out on the track a few feet in front of me.

I barely managed to stop. Seriously, I was _inches _plowing into them.

"What the hell, Grover?" I grumbled. No, I didn't really like being stopped in the middle of my run. Yesterday was different, it was a _break_ and- ah, what the hell: I have mood swings, and sometimes I'm fine with being stopped, other times I'm not. Oh, just a little tip; I'm only ever okay with being stopped if it is Grover who tries to stop me. So I couldn't decide whether to be pissed or not, taking into account that it wasn't only Grover, but also whom I guessed was Percy and Annabeth.

Grover just looked amused. "You forgot, didn't you?"

I wrinkled my nose. "I did _not_."

"Did you remember then?" I didn't have an answer to that. So instead I turned to Percy and Annabeth. Wow, they were good-looking. Especially the boy. If I was one of those slutty little, bubble-gum blowing, nasal-laughing bitches that liked teasing people, I would totally be trying to suck his tongue this moment. But the look he shared with Annabell told me I wouldn't be successful.

Percy was tall (damn it, still not as tall as me), and, as I said, very handsome. The first thing that stood out was his bright sea green eyes. They were a sharp contrast to his jet black hair, in which he had for some reason colored a streak grey. Weird. But then again, he _was _a friend of Grover's. And it was clear from what skin I could see that he was very fit, muscular and lean.

Annabeth was a tall girl (but again, not as tall as me damn it), and very pretty. She had a slight tan skin, even though the sun had not been intense enough for her to develop one so early in the year. So either she had been on a holiday, had spray-tanned, or had a natural tan. It most likely was the last – don't ask me why I thought that, call it intuition or instinct, whatever. She had deep, stormy-grey eyes and curly, golden-blond hair – she, too, had a grey streak in her hair. It was natural (not the grey streak, the blonde color) – and I knew _that_ because the bubble-gum bitches all dyed their hair.

"Ah, you must be Peter and Annabell. Grover has told me about you," I finally greeted them after, very obviously and not hiding it at all, having looked them over.

"It's Perc-" the hot boy started.

"Peter," I interrupted with a smile. He frowned a bit.

"No, it's Per-"

"Peter, I know. Sheez, someone is happy about his name." I looked at Annabell. "How do you stand being around him?" She sighed dramatically, catching on quickly. Girls-who-are-not-bubbly-gum-bitches are usually like that.

"I honestly don't know. Peter has been like that since we were twelve." First Percy looked shocked. Then he looked with narrowed eyes at Annabeth, then at me. Then Annabeth burst out in laughter. I would too, just… I don't really do laughter that well. Well, I laughed yesterday at my own joke, but still. As I said, I got mood swings.

"You two are mean," Percy told us with a pout. Grover stood there grinning.

"Yep, so this is Percy and Annabeth," he told me, gesturing towards each of them as he said their name. Why would he do that? Did he honestly believe that I would think that a girl like that would be called Percy? "And this is Nymphadora- Ach!" My hand stung slightly at the half-hard slap to the back of Grover's head I had just given him.

"I told you not to call me that!" I told him annoyed.

"At least I didn't introduce you as Nymmie," he muttered under his breath. I raised my hand threateningly, and he raised on of his hands in surrender. "All right, all right! This is Andromeda."

"You're impossible," I sighed at him. I then turned to glare at the two strangers, who were stifling laughs at Grover's expense. I pointed at them threateningly, their eyes snapping to mine. "And I swear by all that is holy, if any of you call me Nymphadora, Nymmie, or any variations thereof, I will string you up by your family jewels in the highest tree I can find." Percy gulped at took a tiny step away from me. Huh, look at that; a boy that was not Grover who actually did what boys should do. Annabeth had trained this one well.

"H-how is that a punishment for Annabeth?" he stammered out.

I shrugged. "She won't get to use them." They both went bright red at that.

"As if I would do that to her!"

"We're _not_ together! And eww!"

I looked amused at their outburst. This time Grover was laughing at their expense. Yeah, Karma's a bitch. Not that I believe that crap. After they regained their composures (though Annabeth still had a tint of red in her cheeks), Annabeth turned towards me, not looking Percy in the eyes.

"Andromeda, huh?" she asked with curiosity. I automatically went on the defense.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"It's just funny that your name is Andromeda, as Percy's name is Perseus. You know, from ancient Greek and all."

"Seriously?" I asked disbelieving.

Percy nodded, "I prefer to go by Percy, though."

"Understandable, I know the feeling. _Nymphadora_, Pft!" I scoffed the last part. Then I grinned at Percy teasingly. "But what do you say? Want to shack up and live happily ever after, _Perseus_?" I wiggled my eyes suggestively at the end. He went bright red again, backed off, and threw Annabeth a desperate look – yeah, I would have no chance with him. Annabeth just found it hilarious (though, I could see a flash of what I thought was jealousy). "Relax, Percy, I'm just teasing you."

After having laughed a bit about a pouting Percy, they began joking with each other – jokes and stories I didn't understand because it was about the Summer Camp. I sighed and walked off the track, starting stretching out. After all this time running I knew how make sure I wasn't hurting my body. Just as I finished the same smell I smelled yesterday was carried on a breeze. I gagged again.

"Seriously, I thought it was only Mrs. Stanley who smelled that bad," I said out loud frowning. It only deepened when I saw the very surprised and worried glances Grover, Annabeth, and Percy shared. It was very clear that they were carrying some sort of wordless conversation. I could feel my temper getting the better of me, and I knew if this was how the rest of the day would go, I would ditch them very soon.

"It must be the sewers which are acting up," Grover tried. I looked at him with a deadpanned expression.

"Yeah… The sewers," I drawled. Then I sighed (cringing at the smell which was only getting stronger). "I don't know about you, but I can't stand that smell. And I need to get home and change. You can come with, if you want to."

Grover's eyebrows rose in surprise. "We can see your home? I've never seen the inside of your home before…"

"Well, Miss Georgia isn't home for couple of days," I told him. He frowned a bit at that, but I didn't give it a second thought. I never had Grover home while Georgia was home – I had never had a friend over, and I didn't want to push it. "Anyway, do you guys ha-"

"Ah, I thought the smell was stronger than it should've been. But it's no wonder when _you_ are here. Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon. Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena. Grover, Satyr of Camp Half-Blood," a very strange voice sounded from the entrance to the tracks. I turned as the wind blew towards us, and almost puked by the smell. There stood Mrs. Stanley, but… was her skin smoldering? And she was speaking very differently, almost hissing and dragging out the S's, what was up with that?

"This will be more fun than I had previously thought, but alas… My mission is to take Nymphadora Andromeda Forrest, Daughter of Unknown. I'll give you one chance, Perseus; _stand aside!_"

"Annabeth, Grover, get Andromeda out of here," Percy ordered. Yes; _ordered_. His demeanor was completely different from seconds before… and what was that crap about son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena? Like the Poseidon and Athena from Greek mythology? Then he did something… I wasn't quite sure what. One moment he had a ballpoint _pen_ in his hand, the next moment it was a three feet long sword. And no, not a sword you might be able to buy in some odd store in New York City – it was a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

"What the hell is going on here?" I finally asked, starting to panic just the slightest bit. "Where the hell did you get that sword from?" They didn't answer me.

"Seaweed Brain, do you really think I'm going to leave you alone with that?" Annabeth asked in a rhetorical tone, and brought out her own weapon: a bronze dagger. "No way is that going to happen."

"_What!?_ Why the hell are you walking around with _weapons_!?" I was starting to become hysterical. It didn't help when Mrs. Stanley burst out of her own skin and turned into a monster. Not speaking metaphorically here – she _literally_ turned into a monster. The top half of her body was still human, but instead of looking like a fifty-something bag, she now looked like a twenty-year-old supermodel. The beauty stopped just below her chin, though; scales covered her breast and was flecked over parts of her body, before covering it completely below her waist. And her legs were gone – instead two emerald serpent trunks were there, keeping her standing.

I was frozen in place until she flicked her now forked tongue out, and her slit pupils dilated. The same place that woke when I ran stirred and spoke to me. Not as in words were being said, but in feelings and… instincts, I guessed. No matter what or how, its message was clear.

_Run!_

"What is that thing?" I was starting to hyperventilate now.

"Ugh, fine!" Percy said to Annabeth, again ignoring me completely. "Grover, get Andromeda out of here. _Now_. We'll take care of the Scythian Dracanae."

"The Scythian _what!_?" My heart was beating. So much that I couldn't hear what they were saying anymore – I could feel Grover pulling at me. Some part of my brain perceived that he wasn't using his crutches anymore, and that his legs were suddenly very hairy and very much hoofy. At any other time I would have questioned him about it, but seeing as I was seeing a crazy snake lady, and was most likely going mad… I just followed Grover as he tucked me away. We had just only turned the corner to get out of view before screeches, hisses, yelling, and crashing started sounding from the tracks. From where Percy, Annabeth, and Mrs. Stanley, the Scythian Dracanae – _whatever!_ – were.

We had run a few blocks before my brain caught up to me. It was going miles an hour trying to make sense of this. I couldn't.

"Grover," I called on my friend. But he didn't answer me – _again_. He was looking frantically around us, sniffing the air, and running fast on his hooves. See, the hooves part didn't even bother me right now (I had already half accepted that I was going mad, after all). No, it was the 'let's ignore Andromeda' part what was seriously getting old, and I could feel my blood starting to boil. So I stopped. Grover almost fell over at the sudden lack of motion, and his grip slipped from my wrist. He turned to face me, looking frantic as I've ever seen someone be.

"Andy, we need to get away – _now_." I looked incredulously at him.

"Grover, what in the _seven_ holy hells is going on!? Who were- what did… What is a Scythian Dracanae? Why was that thing talking about Poseidon and Athena? How the hell did it know that I don't know who my mother is? And why do you have _goat legs_!?"

"We don't have time for it right no-"

"Grover!" I cut him off. His jaw snapped closed. "I am not going _anywhere_ with you before you tell me what's going on! How the hell do you expect me to just go along with you when I find out… this? And you two supposedly friends just pulled weapons? _And the goat legs!_"

He took a deep breath. "Okay, but we don't have much time. Long story short: you know all the Greek mythology, with Zeus, Hera, and all the Olympians?" I nodded. "Yeah, they're real."

Silence.

"Ok, seriously, what is going on?" I asked him. He just kept looking at me – wait, did he always have horns? – very seriously. "You are not kidding, are you?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm not. I'm a satyr, Percy is the son of Poseidon, and Annabeth is a daughter of Athena. They're demi-gods."

"And how do I fit into this?" I asked, honestly a bit afraid of the answer. I had an awful feeling that I knew how, but I needed to hear it from Grover's mouth.

"You're Demi-god, too. And a powerful one at that."

I frowned. "But… how? I mean… how do you know I'm a Demigod? And how do you know that I'm strong? I'm freakin' dyslexic and I have ADHD! The only thing I'm remotely good at is running, if you haven't noticed."

"That's just your heritage; you're dyslexic because your brain is hardwired to ancient Greek, not English, and your ADHD is your combat-reflexes… though yours is a lot less obvious, I will admit."

"That could all be coincidences," I tried. I _didn't_ want to be a part of a world with monsters. I just… I don't know what I wanted, but it was not _this_.

"Maybe, but your smell is not a coincidence."

"Smell?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Demigods, monsters, and gods all have their own smells. Though, normally you have to know that you are one – a demigod, monster or god that is – before you can smell them. Which is why…"

"Why you freaked out yesterday when I smelt that god awful smell."

"Gods," he corrected me with a small smile. I narrowed my eyes and his smile faltered slightly.

"Don't push it Grover. I get that we need to get out of here and all, but the first moment that comes we will sit down and have a _long_ – GET DOWN!"

I barely managed to push goat-boy down before what looked like a part of the sidewalk – a _flaming_ part of the sidewalk – smashed into the wall we had stood by. I winced as a small shard of stone lodged itself in my thigh, but the pain was quickly pushed to the back of my mind when I saw who, or what, was standing on the other side of the conveniently empty road.

They could be described as nothing less than giants. There were four of them, each standing at least eight feet tall, towering over me (something I had never experienced before… I didn't like it). Their limps were longer proportions to their body than they would've been with a human – their arms also being heavily tattooed –, and their teeth where yellow and pointed. Under their very tattered clothing I could see something that resembled leather, which they wore as armor, and at their hips hung heavy iron clubs.

And they were currently ripping up the sidewalk, setting it on fire somehow, and throwing the slaps of stones at Grover and me.

"Hestia's hearth! Those are Laistrygonian Giants…" Grover gasped, as one of them threw another stone. I tucked him out of the way just in time, my body going into overdrive. Okay, maybe – _just maybe_ – Grover had something correct with the combat reflexes.

_Run!_

It was my instincts 'talking' to me again. I couldn't help but think the sarcastic thought of _no shitting!_

I grabbed hold of Grover's wrist in the same manner he had done to me minutes earlier. The difference was that I was that much stronger than Grover, and he had no chance he wrestling free from my grip by normal means. Not that he would want to at this moment, with the giants throwing flaming parts of the sidewalk at us. I felt like a stone was in my stomach as I ignored the pain the shard in my thigh was causing me. I had never been this afraid before, and I was so happy that my body moved before I got to think – if not, I would surely had died by now.

Grover yelped when I yanked him as I started running. And it was not at the speed I usually ran when I ran on the track; no. I was full out sprinting, something I rarely do because it breaks some of the serenity of running. But now that was not something I was worried about – I was worried about the freaking _giants_ throwing _flaming_ pieces of sidewalk at us.

Goat-boy was skipping along behind me, only being able to take a single step every time I took three. He didn't seem to mind terribly, though – that tends to happen when you're getting chased by freakin' _giants_!

"This can't be happening _again_," Grover lamented (as well as he could, considering he was skipping on concrete. "First Thalia, then Percy, then Nico and Bianca, and now Andromeda! I'm a terrible Seeker!"

_Duck!_

I listened to my instinct, bringing Grover with me to the concrete where we skidded a bit. A fraction of a second later I could feel the heat of a flaming stone flying over us, and a moment after heard it crash into something. I didn't waste a second and jumped up and ran (still with goat-boy in tow). But this time I wasn't fast enough: one of the giants stepped out from an alleyway. How he had gotten around cornering us I had no idea. I tried to change direction, but my momentum was too great, and I ran straight into the big oaf. I did manage to push Grover, the only friend I had ever had, out of the way so I was the only one to be picked up. Up close the stench was overwhelming and I felt my head go light. Bright spots appeared in my sight as the Giant squeezed me.

"No! Nymmie!" I heard Grover scream at me.

_Fight back…_

It was said very faintly, almost weakly. As if it couldn't get through. Was I really dying? Huh, what a way to go.

_No! __**Fight BACK!**_

With an effort of strength I didn't know I had I forced myself fully conscious again. I felt a surge of power in me that felt distinctively me, but at the same time so much more. Seeing as my instinct had saved me so far, I relied on it and did what it told me to do. And what did it tell me to do? _Scream_.

And so I did. I opened my mouth and screamed at the top of my lungs. Now, you might've imagined that it would simply be a girly scream, but… I'm not really sure if I heard correctly. I was, after all, low on oxygen, and I still had bright spots in my vision… But what I heard was _not_ a normal scream. It sound animal cries. Yes, _cries_, as in more than one cry. I couldn't count how many different cries, roars, hisses and every imaginable sound was exiting from my mouth. And it was loud! I don't know why my eardrums didn't hurt or burst, but I knew they should have.

Neither the Giant who was holding me, nor the three other Giants down the road, cared for my cry. The one holding me let me go right away and backed off, pressing his hands to his head, trying to cover his ears. But no matter how much they disliked it, I couldn't keep it up. Even with what I knew was a supernatural cry, it still required air in my lungs. And I ran out of that. And as I ran out of air, I felt utterly drained of energy. I was actually surprised I was sprawled out on the sidewalk. Oh, since when was I sitting?

The last thing I saw before everything went black was a myriad of animals appearing from every direction, attacking the giants. Cats, dogs, birds, reptilians… everything you could imagine was attacking the Giants. Some of them got killed rather quickly, but that didn't falter the animals collective attack. I saw one of the Giants go down, and then…

Blackness.

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**Authors Note:** I hope you liked it! Remember to review :)


	3. Satyrs, Centaurs, and a Hearth

**Gift of the Nymphs**

**Author's Note:** And the next chapter is up! I hope you like it.

As for answering reviews: I'll try to PM each and every one of you, so if you want an answer, please remember to enable your PM. If some 'big' question comes up, I'll also answer it in this Author's Note.

**Chapter 3:** Satyrs, Centaurs, and a Hearth

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I knew I wasn't home. Nor was I any place that I was familiar with. And I wasn't at a hospital. I knew this because all the smells and noises were wrong. But I knew I wasn't in danger, and that I wasn't dead and it was highly unlikely that anything was going to attack me here. I was among friends… or at least not among enemies. There was currently several other people in the room with me, but they were all sleeping. I sighed as I couldn't fall back asleep – I had slept _way_ too much to be able to do that.

I had drifted in and out of consciousness several times. The first many uncountable times I had only just been up and about, brushing the thing that was awareness, before my grip would slip and I would fall into unconsciousness again. Even so, I can remember people being here, watching me. I think Grover had been there every time I came up and about. So was several blonde kids who was singing for me (weird). And I _think_ I might just have seen Annabeth and Percy being here once or twice. But I remember nothing concrete, like sounds, smells, or thoughts from my small brushes of awareness.

The first time I had actually managed to get a hold on my consciousness, I didn't move. I just laid there for a moment, not giving away that I was actually _here_. That was when I had figured out that I wasn't at home or at a hospital. But my instincts, which had saved my life, didn't act up, so I accepted that I at least was not in danger,

The first thing that was brought to the forefront of my mind was the state of my body. It felt awful – _I_ felt awful. It was like I had run several marathons, back to back, without having anything to drink or eat. Not very pleasant, you can imagine. It wasn't that I was hurting physically, if you didn't count my chest (which was squeezed by that giant thingy). No, I was just… sore and depleted – like I didn't have energy to do the simplest of tasks.

The second thing that was brought to my attention was voices – Voices which were speaking with each other. And I knew one of the voices. Wasn't that… Grover?

"-no idea. I mean, I doubt that she is of the Big Three – neither does she seem like Aphrodite's or Athena's – but I honestly have no idea," Grover said to someone. "I know that she is very strong, and that there is something special about her. It's like she is more in touch with the wild than any other human I had met. But it's not like the nymphs or satyrs are a part of nature, it's… different. That might be the cause for her to not attract monsters for so long, even with such a strong aura. She is special.

"And you're sure she can't just be blessed by Pan?" someone asked of Grover – I guessed it must be this Chiron. "Couldn't it be Panic?"

"No," Grover disagreed without missing a beat. "Chiron, I have never seen or heard of someone summoning animals like that. And the sheer power she did it with… it's no wonder she is out of it. But it's not Panic: The Laistrygonians recoiled from her, but they didn't panic. I think it was because how loud her cry was – you know how sensitive a giant's hearing is. And according to our stories Panic is more of a shout or a scream. Nymphadora cried out at least a couple of dozen different animal cries. And the animals in the area responded – all they were saying was that they had to save their 'Lady' at any cost." He paused. "Chiron, I know this isn't my place to say, but I think she might be the one of the Ancient Prophecy."

My cheek muscle twitched in annoyance at the mention of my first name. And what was that 'of the prophecy' part? Was that real too? I may have moved a bit more than just my cheek, judging from my sudden not-quite-so-comfortable position. I just hoped that it wasn't spotted, but it wouldn't be so.

"Grover, Chiron, I think she is waking up," a voice from just beside me, interrupting Chiron who were answering. I sighed mentally; _time to wake up_. My eyes fluttered open and I groaned: the light was _way_ too bright here. A second after my eyes had gotten used to the light, a face moved in front of my face. It was a handsome face, if you were into the whole blue eyes and sun-kissed hair. I tried to get out but the guy stopped me right away, putting a hand on my shoulder. I still managed to sit up.

"Whoa, easy there. You've been out for almost three days."

I looked at the boy with a surfer-body disbelieving. "Three days?" I croaked. Yeah, _croaked_. I guess that happens when you cry out several different animal-cries at once. "Grover?" I asked and looked around. He was standing – more like skipping nervously – a few feet from my bed… on his goat legs.

"I'm here Nymmie," he said in a worried voice. My eyebrow ticked again at what he called me, but he must not have noticed.

"Can you come here, Grover?" I asked of him. He stepped up to my bed, but it wasn't enough. "Closer," I said to him. He stepped all the way up to me, being only a few inches from me. That's when I quickly brought my hand up and smacked him on the back of his head.

"Ouch!" he cried out as he recoiled from me. "What was that for?"

I narrowed my eyes. "I told you not to call me Nymphadora! What do you expect!?" He looked sheepishly – can you say that about a satyr without insulting them? – at me while rubbing the now sore spot on the back of his head.

"Sorry."

Now that I had given Goat-boy the punishment for the use of The Forbidden Word, I took my time to observe the room I was in. It was, to say the least, not what I expected. I already knew that I wasn't in a hospital, but this… this was basically just a large room with brown walls, filled with people. Okay, maybe not filled with people, but there was nothing out of the ordinary… if you looked apart from the decorations and the children singing songs by the sickbeds. Nothing in here gave me an answer to my question.

"Where are we?" I asked with a frown. "Grover?" Goat-boy was about to answer when… when a half-horse-half-man walked into the room. It was a centaur. If I should judge by human standards (which I honestly didn't know if I should), I would say that the centaur (male, by the way) was middle-aged. His lower half… the _horse_ half was a dusty white color, which might or might not have indicated that he was much older than he seemed. He had a friendly smile on his face, which was framed by his thinning brown hair, bushy eyebrows and scruffy beard. His eyes were brown and very intense – not unfriendly per say, just _intense_.

After two seconds of blatantly starring at him (he took it in stride), I burst out laughing. Like tears running down my cheeks laughing. "Sure, yes, why the hell not: a centaur!" I managed to wheeze out between my laughs. They were just the tiniest tad hysterically.

"Calm down Nymphadora. You have nothing to fear here – you are safe. I'm Chiron, Director of Camp Half-Blood – which is where we are at," the centaur, Chiron, explained. I shot a deadly glare at Grover.

"Seriously? You have him calling me Nymphadora now?" I flicked him in his forehead too fast for him to avoid.

"Sorry!" Grover exclaimed and walked a few steps away. I shot him one more glare, and took a deep breath to try and calm my still hysterically mind.

"I prefer Andromeda if you don't mind, Chiron. Just never, ever, ever call me Nymphadora," I said the last part sternly. Something told me that I could do nothing to get Chiron to call me anything else but Nymphadora if he wished so, but lucky for me he inclined his head in agreement.

"Very well, Andromeda." I took another calming breath as I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. I heard Chiron walk over to my bed, stopping only a few feet away from me. "Andromeda, what do you recall?" I opened my eyes again and saw him looking worriedly at me.

"Well," I started. "I remember being at the Tracks, when Goat-boy here _very rudely_ interrupted me from running with Hotstuff and Miss Priss-"

"Percy and Annabeth," Grover corrected me. I ignored him politely.

"-when Mrs. Stanley arrives, goes all smoldering skin on us, and turns into this snake-woman-scaly hybrid-"

"Scythian Dracanae," Grover corrected me again. I shot him an annoyed look, and continued.

"-then Grover grabs me and runs away…" I trail off as I realize that even if Grover and I was ambushed by giants with flaming pieces of stone, Percy and Annabeth was left alone with the crazy snake woman. "By the way how is Hotstuff and Miss Priss?"

Chiron smiled at me. "Annabeth and Percy are both fine. Percy got a gash on his arm, but they're both ok. They are actually more worried about you – they've come to visit you every few hours."

I frowned. "Really?" It seemed odd to me that two people I had only just met, and spent less than five minutes with, would be so worried about me that they would visit me. I looked at Grover: he must've made them.

"What happened after the Dracanae?" the old centaur asked. I blinked – I had trailed off again.

"Sorry."

"It's quite all right," Chiron said calmly, as if he had done this a million times before. "It's a lot to take in, all of this." I nodded – that was the understatement of the decade.

"Well, after the snake lady attacked," I continued my story (I saw Grover biting his tongue, probably to refrain from correcting me). "Goat-boy here grabs my wrist and tows me several blocks in an oddly deserted part of New York City." I shot a look a Grover again, questioning him how that could be. He mouthed me 'later'. "That's when those giants attacked. What was it you called them? I asked my friend.

"Laistrygonian Giants."

"Yeah, four of those giants attacked us. That's when I grabbed Grover's wrist and ran." Grover snorted a laugh. "What?"

"_Ran_? You damn nearly flew," he laughed in disbelief. He was truly impressed, I could tel. "I couldn't keep up with you at all: I have road burns to prove it!"

I smiled sheepishly at him. "Sorry. But under the circumstances…"

"Sure, sure," he rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, one of the giants cut us off, and I didn't manage to stop. I… I think I ran into him. After that it gets a bit blurry. I remember a voice telling me to fight it, and then I remembering screaming, crying animals, and then I passed out." I paused. "Did animals really appear? Because I saw at least a couple of dozen animals attacking the giants."

"It happened," Grover said. "You somehow summoned all those animals. They killed the giants in your name, which basically means that you singlehandedly took down four Laistrygonian Giants by yourself."

I sighed as I laid back down. I was _really_ tired. Neither Chiron nor Grover spoke up, most likely to give me time to absorb this. And it really was something to absorb: in less than twenty-four hours – eh, I guess its ninety-six hours, seeing as I've been out for about three days – my world had been turned upside down. I had found out that all the shit about Greek Mythology was real, and that I was a demigod, though I didn't know my godly parent yet. And, honestly, I wasn't in a hurry to find out who it was.

"So what now?" I ask after having stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity (I was kinda surprised that the two of them hadn't either gone away or spoken up).

"Now you rest," Chiron told me with a pat on my arm. "Get your energy back, and we'll give you a tour of the camp, and answer any questions you might have. Grover, will you give her the ambrosia and nectar and explain them to her?"

"Of course Chiron," goat-boy answered. Then I heard the clattering of hooves on a wooden floor, which meant that Chiron the centaur walked out. Chiron… the name seemed kind of familiar to me, but I wasn't able to place it. But then again; it wasn't like I had focused much on Greek mythology. I knew that there were heroes, including Hercules (I remembered him because of Walt Disney) and Perseus (and I remembered him because of the connection to my middle name), and I knew that there were twelve Olympian gods and many, many minor gods (don't you dare ask me what they're all named). But that was pretty much it. Oh, and it took place in Ancient Greece (big shocker there, I know).

"Eat and drink," Grover said as he handed me a few square-cubes of… something, alongside a glass of something looking like apple juice, after which he put a small plate of the cubes at my bedside table. He looked at the cubes like they were a dangerous weapon. "Don't eat or drink too much at a time; its ambrosia and nectar." I looked deadpanned at him, as the names didn't tell me anything at all. "Right, sorry. It's the food and drink of the gods. It's rather dangerous – no mortal or monster can eat it without instantly combust. But the gods can eat it, and so can demigods in rations. Just, don't eat too much… you're still half mortal." It took me all of three seconds to figure out what he was saying.

"Right," I said and very carefully took a sip of the drink. My eyes widened: it tasted like liquid beef. It should've been gross (liquid beef, really), but it wasn't. The two cubes I ate tasted of the same. As I felt energy return to me, and the hurt on my chest started to fade away, I turned to Grover. "Beef?"

"It tastes different to everyone. It's said that it will taste like your favorite food or drink in the world."

"Huh."

After that we made small talk, but Grover had to go soon after. He had pushed a few rules and skipped some of his responsibilities to be with me while I was out. Now that I had awoken for real at least once, he needed to get back to the forest. I had fallen asleep not long after, even with the extra energy I had gotten from the gods' food. I always got a bit drowsy after eating – adding that to the music some of the kids were playing in the room, it was no wonder I was out as a light. And now I'm back where we began – lying in my bed in the middle of the night, not being able to sleep. It's not the best combination of a kid with ADHD.

Finally I had enough and quietly got out of bed, stretching my legs. I still felt a bit wobbly, but it was good to be standing again. I tiptoed out of the large room that was the infirmary, to enter another big room. Nothing special in this room, so I tiptoed on: there were a lot of rooms throughout the house of varying sized, but one thing became clear to me: the house was huge. Finally I entered a half-large room (quite a bit larger than many of the rooms in the house, but not quite as large as the infirmary) which had the door to the outside. And relax, will ya? I'm not going to go outside… I turned to go out of the room again when I saw a hearth… and a little girl sitting in front of it, tending to it with an iron staff. Don't ask me what made me do it, but I approached her and the hearth, feeling the sudden urge to bask in the fire.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here a bit?" I asked the girl. She turned to look at me with a slightly surprised look on her face. I got my first good look at her; she couldn't be much more than eight year old. She had mousy-brown hair and wore a simple brown dress with a scarf wrapped around her head. But what really caught my interest were her eyes: they were fire-red. Now, you might think that I would be slightly unnerved by this fact, but they weren't scary at all – they were more warm and cozy than scary. Oh, and I couldn't really judge people by their eye color, when I myself had freaky silver eyes.

"Of course," she nodded. Now I was caught by surprised by her voice. Sure, it belonged to a little girl, but there was something in there that said that she was more than she seemed.

"Thank you." I sat down beside her. I brought my knees up to my chest, and rested my head on top of them, gazing into the fire and letting it memorize me. "This is nice."

"Hmm," it came from the girl. "I do quite enjoy being by a hearth. Something about the fire is truly… cozy." There it was again: she was not just a normal girl. No normal eight-year old girl would speak like that. But then again, my world was upside down, so maybe they did. "You're up quite late, aren't you."

"I couldn't sleep anymore," I muttered as I enjoyed the warmth. "I've been out for three – I guess four days now. I've slept enough. And I couldn't stop thinking…"

"Ah, I thought I hadn't seen you around before. You are new, yes?" I glanced over at the girl, her cozy eyes looking kindly at me. Honestly, I think I should've been freaked out by this girl, but I wasn't. She had an aura that made me feel… home. I didn't know if I actually liked feeling home here.

"Yeah. Didn't know any of this," I motioned to the room, "was real. Then a crazy snake lady attacks myself, Grover, and two other demigods – Percy and Annabeth. Oh, and giants, Laistrygonian giants Grover called them. Four of them. Throwing flaming pieces of movements at us. At diddly dee diddly dah, here I am."

"I'm please none of you got hurt more than you did," she told me as she went back to poking the fire. "Not everyone's so lucky." She let that statement hang in the air for a few seconds before changing subject. "Have you any ideas of who your godly parent can be?"

"None whatsoever." I sighed, "God – I mean gods – I honestly don't even know all the names of the gods. It's… going to take time get used to this." She smiled reassuring at me. "Do you know your parents."

"Oh yes," she said lightly. "Horrible people. Well, Mother wasn't as bad as Father, but still. Father ate me whole alongside all my siblings but my youngest brother. He got us out eventually."

I starred at her for a few moments before it clicked into place. "You're not a demigod, are you?" She shook her head. "Are you a god?"

"Hestia, goddess of hearth, home, and family, at your service," she introduced herself with a motherly tone. I liked her.

"Oh, wow," I said a bit stunned. "So, what should I call you? Goddess Hestia? Lady?"

"Normally you would address a god either Lord or Lady unless they tell you otherwise. But I've never been into formalities – Hestia will be fine with me."

"Ok. Thank you Hestia. It's an honor to meet you." I let out a big yawn. "I better get back to bed. Thanks for letting me sit by your hearth."

She inclined her head. "It was nice having someone to talk to. Most campers just walk by, not giving me a second thought. I don't mind, mind you. I prefer being in the background, keeping the peace. Sleep well, Nymphadora Andromeda Forrest."

"Thanks… Erm… You too?" the last part was a question. I didn't know if gods slept or not. She simply smiled at me and accepted my well washings.

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**Author's Note:** I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter I plan on having her introduced the camp proper.

As you can probably see, I rather like Hestia. She is probably my favorite of the Greek gods, simply because of her domain. And I like the way she is portrayed in the books. She may and may not get a larger role (as large a role as god can have in a story anyway) later in the story, she might now. I haven't really decided yet.

Anyway, remember to review :)


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